The Complainant referred his case to the Labour Court as a result of him being subjected to bullying in the workplace. The Complainant was employed as a Department Manager in a number of the Respondent Company’s stores in the Cork area since 2007. In March 2018, the Complainant was relocated to the Company’s store in Carrigaline.

The Complainant’s relationship with the Store Manager in his new location was strained. This caused the Complainant significant stress and in July 2018 he was absent from work on certified sick leave. During this time, he submitted a formal complaint of bullying against the Store Manager.

This complaint was not investigated by the Area Manager at the time because the Store Manager was absent from the workplace for an extended period in the latter half of 2018. Upon the Store Managers return, the Complainant pressed the Area Manager to conclude the investigation into his original complaint.

The Area Manager met with the Complainant and informed him that he had found no evidence that the Store Manager had bullied or harassed him contrary to the Company’s Policy on Dignity and Respect in the Workplace. The Complainant then decided to pursue an appeal as he expressed his dissatisfaction with how the original compliant was investigated.

At a subsequent meeting with the Company’s Area Manager, he was informed that the Company’s dignity at work policy did not provide for an appeal stage. As a result, the Complainant then decided to instruct a Solicitor to refer a number of complaints under employment rights legislation to the Workplace Relations Commission. Shortly thereafter, the Complainant was notified by his Area Manager that he was to be transferred to another of its stores.

The Labour Court considered that the method in which the Manager chose to inform the Worker of the outcome of his investigation into the Worker’s complaint under the Company’s Policy on Dignity and Respect in the Workplace to be far from satisfactory and that the Company’s procedures fall short of best practice in so far as they do not provide for an appeal of the outcome of an investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment. Therefore, the Labour Court recommended that the Company pay compensation of €3,000.00 to the Complainant.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2019/july/lcr22038.html